from you in the coming weeks. I have two properties that I wish to sell...’ Demyan hesitated. He had a vast property portfolio and most of his investments were purchased and sold unseen, but all of that took place away from Australia. The two properties that were about to go on the market here were far more personal. ‘I want you to speak discreetly with some agents and give me the best two, perhaps three, and from there I will meet them and decide who to go with.’
‘I’ll ring a few this morning—’
‘And say what?’
His tone was suddenly sharp and, looking over, Alina saw that his eyes had narrowed and she realised that she had clearly said the wrong thing.
‘Firstly, you haven’t even seen the properties. Secondly, you are to be discreet. The last thing I need is the press to find out before I tell...’ Demyan hesitated again. He certainly wasn’t going to discuss his predicament about Roman.
‘You will make discreet enquiries with the agents, face to face, give me a shortlist, then I shall make my selection and then I will speak with them.’ He was still frowning. ‘You have done this type of thing before?’ Demyan checked. ‘Because I also have a farm out in the Blue Mountains and it is going to be a complicated sale. I have tenants and they’re not going to be particularly thrilled that I am selling. I do not need someone with no experience making—’
‘Do they run their business from the farm?’ Alina interrupted, blowing out a breath as Demyan gave a small nod, because there she did know what she was doing—her mother’s farm had at one stage nearly been sold to overseas investors, which might have meant that her mother could have retained the business. Unfortunately, at the last minute the property had sold to a well-heeled family that wanted a place in the mountains as a weekender.
‘I know a very good agribusiness agent,’ Alina said. ‘One who is very used to sitting tenants and international investors, though of course I’ll liaise with others.’
He had been about to tell her to leave.
Even ordering something as simple as a coffee had proved complicated but, just as he was about to dismiss her, Demyan decided to give her another chance.
‘You are a country girl?’ Briefly he tried to understand her.
‘Ex,’ Alina said. ‘Though you know what they say...’
‘No,’ Demyan said. ‘They?’
‘You can take the girl out of the country...’ Her voice trailed off. ‘It’s a saying. You can—’
‘I will call the tenants now.’ Demyan cut her off in mid-sentence. He was possibly the most abrupt man she had ever met.
Alina watched as he effortlessly, and without so much as a flinch, broke the difficult news. ‘I want to clear my portfolio here,’ Demyan said, and Alina looked away; it was all just a little too close to home. ‘I understand that, Ross,’ Demyan said, ‘but my decision has been made...’ Demyan stopped talking for a moment as Ross made rapid pleas. ‘It will be going on the market as soon as possible.’
He just said it.
It was too close to home because Alina felt tears prick at the back of her eyes as she thought of Ross picking up the phone and how so much had just been dashed in one call.
Alina could hear Ross’s voice rising, asking why Demyan couldn’t have given them more notice, and then, for the first time, she heard a trace of emotion in Demyan’s voice. ‘I only decided last night.’
CHAPTER TWO
IT WAS A very long morning.
Alina sat embarrassed and uncomfortable as the staff worked around them, picking up the pieces of a decadent night.
Demyan didn’t appear embarrassed, not remotely so. He was clearly more than used to it and they worked on solidly.
‘Are there tenants in the other property?’ Alina asked.
‘No.’ Demyan didn’t even look over as he answered. ‘It is my private residence that I am selling. Do you see now my need for discretion?’
Alina slowly nodded and ran a tongue over suddenly dry lips as she started to glimpse the enormity of Demyan’s revelation. ‘Am I to look for other—?’
‘I am not buying,’ Demyan said, and Alina blinked at the implication that he was leaving Australia. ‘It is going to be a busy month—unexpectedly so.’ He did look at her then—straight into her eyes. ‘Do you have any questions?’
‘No,’ Alina said, hoping to make it clear that she wasn’t about to pry, but again it was none too subtly pointed out that she was perhaps out of her league.
‘Surely you should have many questions. You are supposed to be running my diary and arranging the sale of two properties and yet there is nothing that you wish to ask me? As I said earlier, I have allocated today to bring you up to...’ His hand moved in a circle as he tried to place the word. Clearly irritated, his excellent English slipped and he repeated the start of the phrase. ‘Bring you up to...’
Alina sat there, her lips tight, trying not to break in and give him the word that he was looking for. She didn’t want to annoy him further—in fact, she was expecting any minute now to be told to leave. And then the strangest thing happened. She watched as his arrogant, sullen features slipped into a smile, the first she had glimpsed from him, and, most surprisingly of all, it was aimed at her.
‘I don’t have a stutter,’ Demyan said.
Alina swallowed; she had no idea where this was leading.
‘You don’t have to just sit there and pretend not to notice that I cannot find the right word.’ He was still smiling, just a little, but enough for Alina to realise why he so easily broke hearts. His smile was completely mesmerising. He had a very sensual mouth when it wasn’t scowling, full, deep red lips that moved incredibly slowly, so slowly they made Alina aware that her own lips were itching and she ran her nail over them.
‘Feel free to jump in,’ Demyan said, and her thoughts were so lost in his lips that for a bizarre second Alina thought it was an invitation to kiss, but she quickly dragged her mind back to the conversation.
‘Speed,’ Alina croaked. ‘You have today to bring me up to speed.’
‘So use it wisely.’
Alina nodded.
‘In the future if there is something you are unsure of, or you have questions—’
‘Then I’ll ask you.’
Wrong answer.
Alina knew because she actually saw his jaw clamp and that gorgeous mouth harden.
‘If you would let me finish...’ There was no trace of a smile on his lips now. ‘I was about to say that you will liaise with Marianna, my regular PA in the States.’
‘No matter the time of day?’ Alina said. ‘With the time difference...’
‘You liaise with her
